God of War Chains of Olympus Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

God of War Chains of Olympus Free Download GAMESPACK.NET Ready at Dawn Studios burst onto the scene in 2006 with Daxter, a PSP take on the PS2’s Jak series, starring everyone’s favorite Ottsel. The game was visually stunning for its time, featuring fantastic animation and great overall art design. It also didn’t hurt that it was a damn fun title, making it quite the breakout release for the fledgling developer. Given Daxter’s fantastic showing, I had very high expectations for the studio’s second PS2-to-PSP transition, God of War: Chains of Olympus. While creating an offshoot title that stars a sidekick is one thing, it’s a whole different ballgame to take the reigns of Kratos and attempt to follow up two of the PlayStation 2’s absolute best (and fan favorite) titles. Somehow though, Ready at Dawn has done it again. Chains of Olympus works as a prequel to the original God of War. Kratos has already been saved by Ares and is working out his seemingly never-ending payback by doing the bidding of Olympus. The game opens in Attica, where Kratos helps defend the city against the impeding Persian forces. TOP/BEST ADULT VIDEO GAMES IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA)

God of War Chains of Olympus Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

If you’ve gotten your hands on the demo disc, you’ve already played the game’s opening moments. After chasing down the Persians’ basilisk throughout the city, which of course culminates in a signature God of War boss battle, the game shifts its focus to an entirely different tale. I won’t even begin to hint at its contents since much of the story is shrouded in mystery until the end, but it does work very nicely into the overall franchise and helps give a little more character to Kratos. There’s even a bit of foreshadowing here that relates to what happens in the second and, I assume, third games, which is pretty cool. Aside from its rather stunning visuals, the first thing you’ll immediately notice about Chains of Olympus is that Ready at Dawn has done a stellar job of keeping Kratos’ move set intact. From what I can tell without doing an actual side-by-side comparison of the two games, Kratos’ moves appear to be identical to what you’ll find in God of War 2. Furthermore, combat is extremely responsive, perfectly mimicking the console versions. I immediately and naturally went back to my favorite combos, and they worked exactly as I’d remembered.

Kratos.

Though the PSP is missing the L2 and R2 buttons and the right analog stick of the Dual Shock 2, I dare say that the control scheme here works better than on the PS2. Instead of having to use the D-Pad to change between magic types, you now hold R and press a corresponding face button. This means you won’t accidentally trigger something you didn’t mean to a waste precious magic, and it also means you can switch between them much more easily. Since there isn’t a second analog stick, dodging works by pressing L and R at the same time, which again works even better than on the PS2 pad since you don’t have to move your thumb off the face buttons. Each of the control changes has been implemented fantastically and you won’t miss any of the missing buttons. Given that this is a God of War title, most of your time will be spent in combat. Ready at Dawn didn’t mess with the franchise’s proven formula whatsoever, which is perhaps one of our only (small) gripes for the game. You’ll generally lay waste to anything in front of you as you progress through the game’s stellar environments. Crysis 3 Remastered

God of War Chains of Olympus Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

Occasionally being trapped in a room until you’ve dispatched everyone (and everything) inside of it. Like the previous titles, it’s a very linear experience, with only small nooks and crannies hidden away with secrets that’ll take you off the beaten path for a few moments. It would have been nice to have seen a little experimentation here or there to mix things up. Things like the Pegasus elements of God of War II did this to some extent, but you won’t find anything like that here. God of War: Chains of Olympus’ story takes place before the first God of War game on the PlayStation 2, which is a little confusing because you find yourself trying to remember just what had and hadn’t happened in Kratos’ twisted life at the time of the first game. At this particular point in the God of War timeline, Kratos is a general whose sole purpose is to serve the gods of Olympus. During the course of Chains of Olympus, the gods’ orders create a certain moral dilemma for Kratos, and he finds himself faced with the decision of whether or not to do the bidding of his gods or do what is best for him.

Persian King Boss.

The story doesn’t play a prominent role here, but this is God of War, so all you really need to know is why Kratos is pissed off so you can go off and slaughter mythical creatures with reckless abandon. With few exceptions, the combat in Chains of Olympus is just as you’ve come to know and love. The controls are tight and in general quite good. Learning to evade attacks requires a bit of an adjustment, given that you need to hold both of the shoulder buttons and then move the analog stick, but you get used to it and it works fine. Kratos can make light and heavy attacks using his blades of chaos, and you can perform combos by pressing specific, simple button patterns. Eventually you’ll get your hands on a second weapon, the Gauntlet of Zeus, which is essentially a giant glove that Kratos can use to pummel his foes. It’s a great addition to Kratos’ armament and a ton of fun to use. It’s just too bad that it’s the only alternate weapon in the game. Magic is a bit limited as well, but you’ll eventually acquire a few other abilities. Most useful to us was the first one you get, the efreet, which damaged all nearby enemies; the other abilities were of little use. Orbital Bullet Switch NSP

God of War Chains of Olympus Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

For every successful kill, you’re rewarded with red orbs that can be used to learn new attacks as well as upgrade weapons and magic. Once again you can find hidden treasure chests that contain red orbs, as well as others that offer gorgon eyes and phoenix feathers. If you collect enough of them, you can increase your overall health and magic meters. Treasure chests and red orbs are actually quite easy to come by, so you should have no problem maxing out all of Kratos’ abilities before the end of the game. As soon as the opening cutscene ends, you’re thrown right into the middle of an epic battle in which you must defend Attica from the Persian Army and a basilisk, a huge, reptilian beast that the Persian forces unleashed on the city. During the course of the game you’ll fight your way through Attica, some enormous caves, and eventually Hades. Each level is linear, though there are a few branching paths that can be explored to find bonus items. Chains of Olympus is much more combat-oriented than God of War II. You sometimes have to manipulate statues and other items to reflect light or activate a pressure switch to open doors.

Blades of Chaos.

you’ll find yourself doing a bit of platforming and swimming, but most often you’re on good old terra firma while battling foot soldiers, sirens, medusas, cyclopes, and other mythical creatures so that you can open a door or break through a magical barrier to get to the next area. The heavier focus on action certainly keeps things moving, and the combat is as awesome as ever, but the occasional bit of puzzle-solving and high-wire acrobatics is missed here. Of course, there are several extras available once you finish the game. You’ll unlock concept art along with one bonus costume and video by finishing the game on the default difficulty. You can also go back and play through on the ultrahard god mode or try to complete the five tasks in the challenge of Hades, each of which quickly reveals the reason behind its name. Chains of Olympus follows Kratos, the Ghost of Sparta, prior to the events of the first God of War while he is still in the servitude of the gods. Prompted by a catastrophic event that takes place within their very own lands, Kratos is dispatched to uncover the mystery and ends up discovering some truths that hit a little too close to home.

While playing the prior games isn’t necessarily required to understand what’s happening here, I would at least recommend playing the first game before this despite Chains of Olympus being a prequel. There’s one event that permeates every aspect of this series which isn’t fully explained here and in general Kratos is less fleshed out and his objectives aren’t as clear, meaning the game is better played as a supplementary piece. In general character development isn’t handled as well here – as mentioned previously Kratos isn’t as strong a lead, with the game attempting to tug on your emotional heartstrings in a way that doesn’t quite hit the mark. Other characters suffer too – the main enemy appears far too late in the day and isn’t anything like the foreboding presence that Ares was in God of War, which isn’t a deal breaker but is certainly disappointing given the series has managed this aspect well in the past. The actual plot involves the sun God Helios falling from the sky and the darkness of Morpheus spreading through the lands. Tasked by Athena with finding Helios, Kratos’ journey takes him through both real world locations and the fictional underworld that’s quite fascinating – the problem is that the plot loses itself rapidly once it gets into the storytelling involving Calliope’s, Kratos’ daughter.

God of War Chains of Olympus Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

As the game is short it feels like there isn’t time to fully explore both aspects and as a result neither are really developed well enough – even though I have to commend Ready at Dawn for trying hard to humanise Kratos. Still, the world-building here is as good as ever – ancient Olympian cities are represented in all their glory while the underworld is as blood-drenched and horrifying as it was in the first game. The gory violence returns too and helps you feel like you’re really in this brutal, mythical world that’s every bit as impressive as any film or other media of this kind. Often included on lists of the best looking PSP games and for good reason, Chains of Olympus is a visual tour-de-force that highlights incredibly well what the handheld is capable of that still shines bright even among Vita-native titles. It sets a high bar which is only really bettered by Ready at Dawn’s own effort a few years later. This is the God of War you’ll remember if you’ve played the PS2 entries – everything is here from the large-scale setpieces (such as the opening Siege of Attica which has you defending the war-torn city from Persian invasion) to the twisting temples and puzzles that break the action up. Moment-to-moment the game looks spectacular and runs at an incredibly solid clip too, meaning visual fidelity doesn’t come at the expense of performance. Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales

ADD ONS/PATCHES AND DLC’S: God of War Chains of Olympus